Raver Mag

In a world where adversity and diversity constantly threaten to tear us apart, dance music culture has always provided a safe haven of unity. Felix Cartal emulates this feeling in his new release “Hold Tight,” the B-side track to his recent hit “Get What You Give.” Though the track only possesses one lyrical sampling—its namesake “Hold Tight“—it conveys an emotionally powerful message through its euphoric and yet wistful melodies. It’s a song for the tough times, when everyone needs to know there’s a light at the end of the tunnel; it’s a song for the good times, too, when it seems as though life couldn’t possibly be better. I liked the Hold Tight phrase, which I sampled from “Get What You Give“a theme,” says Felix, “I think embraces are very powerful, and the mood of the song has this sort of unresolved feeling – like we are all searching for a moment of togetherness.” This one could be a tear-jerker or a complete bliss-out experience at a live show. In either case, Cartal proves that sometimes, all you need is a hug. “Hold Tight” is released in collaboration between Polydor Records, Capitol Records, and Physical Presents.

With his dreamy, melodic and yet dance-floor friendly sound, Felix Cartal has established himself as a force to be reckoned with in modern dance music. His Spotify channel has garnered over 45 million streams, and his track “Killing Time” with R3hab reached over 4 million streams just a few weeks after its release. Felix’s appeal lies in his ability to convey complex emotions through his music, like the hopeful angst of his recent release “Get What You Give,” leaving listeners with a positive emotional catharsis. To this effect, “Get What You Give” has soared to the #1 spot on Sirius XM Chill and the Hype Machine and is quickly climbing the Canadian Top 40 radio chart. With such immense recent successes, we can’t wait to see what’s next for Felix Cartal. Catch him on one of his North American tour dates this fall to experience the magic for yourself.

Notorious party starter Dirty Audio is back with his newest tune “Mob,” and it’s guaranteed to gear you up for a night of bottles, beats, and debauchery. Dirty teamed up with up-and-coming bass producer Carbin and rapper iE-Z for the track, creating a winning combination of metallic basslines, electrifying synths and rhythmic vocal verses. After one listen you’ll be rolling to the club in no time. iE-Z and Dirty Audio worked together on their recent single “Hit It” with Deorro, which garnered over 12 million streams on Spotify. Though Carbin is a newcomer to the industry, the young American producer has already gained support from heavyweights like Excision, Datsik and Adventure Club. “Mob” follows Dirty Audio‘s recent remix of GRiZ‘s groovy “Wicked” and the festival bomb “Firewalker,” proving once again that there is literally no sound this dynamic producer can’t conquer!

Dirty Audio has been crushing the game over the last year and a half, with some of the most explosive tracks in bass and electro music. Dirty Audio‘s previous tracks include an explosive remix of Afrojack‘s “Used to Have It All,” a remix of Yellow Claw‘s “Ocho Cinco” and his original production with Max Styler, “Roller Coaster.” All three releases were extraordinarily well received by fans and industry tastemakers alike, bolstering Dirty Audio‘s resume as he blazes full steam ahead through the second half of 2017. He went on tour in Australia and New Zealand earlier this year and recently debuted in Asia at WOMB Tokyo, bringing his electrifying live sets to all corners of the globe. Next, he takes the stage at the Santa Clara Fairgrounds in California on October 14th, followed by EDC Orlando on November 10th before he jets off to Australia to play two days of Earthcore Festival in Brisbane this December. Catch Dirty Audio‘s legendary live sets if you can this fall or simply press play on his new releases and imagine you’re part of the experience.

Bass music champions Snails and NGHTMRE have come together for their first-ever collaboration of epic proportions with “Only Want U” featuring vocals from Akylla. Drawing from each of their signature sounds, “Only Want U” is the perfect fusion of dirty bass lines, anthemic build ups and speaker-shattering drops.

“Only Want U” is the second release off Snails’ debut album The Shell. To coincide with the album, Snails will embark on his massive ‘The Shell’ global tour, which just announced three additional dates in Los Angeles, Orange County and Las Vegas. Full list of dates below and tickets are onsale now here.

Fresh off his “Embrace” collaboration with Australian duo Carmada, NGHTMRE also just announced an exciting NGHTMRE Before Xmas Tour. Tickets on sale here and full list of dates for both tours below.

Inside the Music with CID

Exclusive Interview Electric Zoo 2017

by Kristine Kennedy and Michael Beas

His name is Carlos Cid, but everyone in the electronic music world knows him best by CID, a DJ and producer extraordinaire hailing from New York City. What you may not know about this man is that despite the growth and impact he wants to continue to make on this industry, he’s already won a Grammy Award. Pretty darn impressive! And he’s not stopping there by any means. Join us as we take a deeper dive into the world of CID.

Raver Magazine: So you’ve got a new track out that we love called “Believer” with Ceelo Green. Whose idea was it to turn the video into a cartoon?

CID: We were tossing around a few ideas and the song is very upbeat and positive so that was one of the themes that my team and the Big Beat team had. We just went with it and it ended up being such a cool process going back and forth with the designers for the way the characters should look. In the end, we’re all really happy with how it came out.

Raver Magazine: What’s the history behind how this track came about?

CID: Lately I’ve been writing a lot with different songwriters. This track, though, was one that the record label showed me. Originally, it was not a house record at all and I took it and put a soulful house spin on it. We worked with it for a while and now it’s an awesome experience to finally see it come out and see peoples’ reactions to it.

Raver Magazine: We see you’ve been traveling a lot lately and just got back from Europe. How has life on the road been treating you?

CID: It was an awesome experience! I’ve been fortunate to have become great friends with the group at one of the best clubs in Barcelona, so the last couple of years they have brought me out. My family lives in Spain, so this year I was able to connect with them a lot. The show in Alicante stood out the most. It’s out on the water with a big open stage. I ended up playing four hours and that’s the great part about Europe, especially Spain, that you can just keep playing. There’s no curfew and in that sense, I think that Europe was a great experience to be able to play there.

Raver Magazine: From Spain to New York City – your current hometown crowd – how was it playing in front of them at Electric Zoo?

CID: Oh it was crazy! Electric Zoo was the first festival I ever went to as a fan back in 2010 and I just remember really enjoying it so much. To be able to experience it now as an artist is really special. I remember looking back a couple of months ago at some pictures of mine and found a selfie of myself with the stage behind me. I zoomed in and it was Kaskade playing. It all came full circle that back then I didn’t know him at all and to see the progression up to today is just awesome.

Raver Magazine: You’re working with so many talented artists these days. If you had to pick one for a future project, who would it be?

CID: Kaskade has just shown me so much love – I would really love to do something else with him. My next single is actually going out on Don Diablo’s label, Hexagon, which I’m really excited about. We’ve started working with a couple of ideas that hopefully we’ll be able to put out to the fans soon.

Raver Magazine: You’re a Grammy Award winner [for production with Cedric Gervais’ remix of “Summertime Sadness”]. What’s next to tackle in this industry? What are you pursuing in life?

CID: I use my success as benchmarks for my progress. This year I played the 2pm set time on Main Stage at Electric Zoo. Next year I’m hoping for a set time later in the day. I really want to start building as an artist with the fans, put out a lot more music, really grow and be able to sell out my own shows. That’s where I want to go.